12 New Pumpkin Spice Products We’ve Tasted This Year, Ranked Worst to Best

I don’t know if you’ve heard, but pumpkin spice is pretty popular during this time of year. It’s so popular that I’ve received dozens of PSL-inspired products over the last few weeks. We here at Sporked don’t want to run that many gourd-y reviews in a row, so I’ll be firing off twelve in one article because I’m nuts. Here are a dozen pumpkin spice products, ranked from worked to best. 

Pumpkin Spice RXBar

RXBar prides themselves on their very minimal ingredients list: egg whites for protein, dates for ingredient binding, and two different nuts for texture. Those ingredients come together to form… a disaster from start to finish. The aroma upon opening was the first and last pleasant experience I got out of this. Y’all, I could taste the eggs in this damp and sticky protein bar. Spoilers: There’s a dog food ahead of this product in this ranking.

1/10 sporks

Pumpkin Spice Latte McConnell’s Ice Cream

This PSL-flavored ice cream is the most coffee-flavored ice cream I’ve ever had. The pumpkin spice of it all was lost underneath a very strong coffee bitterness. If you think the other guys’ coffee ice cream is too sweet, this is going to be perfect for you. (It wasn’t for me.)

3.5/10 sporks

Other Half Pumpkin Bacon Latte Canine Health Supplement

The label was pretty clear on this food topping not being for human consumption, but it also said this was made with human-grade ingredients. Anyway, my dog happily scarfed down an extra serving of food topped with this—no small feat, she’s very picky. I was impressed with the very bacon-forward flavor on the smidge I tasted.

4/10 sporks

Angry Orchard Headless Pumpkin Cider

There’s a little too much going on here. This is Angry Orchard’s pumpkin pie-inspired hard apple cider, available exclusively in their Jason Voorhees-inspired Variety Pack. This would have gotten a better score if they hadn’t tried to claim it was pie-flavored. As a certified hard cider snob, I’ve never been the biggest fan of Angry Orchard; this is a perfectly average pumpkin cider from a historically average cider company.

5/10 sporks

Pumpkin Spice Puff Cookies

Puff Cookies is a new brand of pre-made cookie dough trays that promote themselves as being extra fluffy. These pumpkin-shaped cookies are, true-to-form, airy and easy to chew—unless you leave them on the baking tray to cool. (I know you’re supposed to transfer them to another tray, but I had limited counter space. Forgive me.) The spice mix doesn’t immediately read as pumpkin, believe it or not; these might as well be spice cake cookies. It’s not bad, but it leaves plenty to be desired.

5.5/10 sporks

Bobo’s Pumpkin Spice Oat Bites

Out of all the pumpkin spiced foods I tried, this one smells the most like fresh pumpkin bread. While I preferred the Pecan Pie Oat Bites that came in the same package, these gluten-free vegan Pumpkin Spice Oat Bites are still a solid healthy-ish snack.

6.5/10 sporks

Lifeway Pumpkin Spice Kefir

This was everything I hoped it would be; if you like pumpkin spice and kefir like I do, you’ll love this! My less-kefir-experienced partners in this taste-testing marathon were far less convinced. I forgot to warn them that the sourness of this yogurt-ish drink is basically the whole point.

7.5/10 sporks

Pop & Bottle Pumpkin Spice Almondmilk Latte

This latte does a great job of giving you the pumpkin flavor and the rest of the spice flavor, in that order. There is a funky little aftertaste I can’t pin down—not uncommon for plant-based products. Still, you’re not gonna find a better ready-to-drink dairy-free pumpkin spice latte. (With that many qualifiers, I’m not sure how many others you’ll find at all.)

8/10 sporks

Catalina Crunch Pumpkin Pie Protein Cereal

I’ve had plenty of Catalina Crunch’s protein granolas (which I’ve really enjoyed), but this is my first time trying their protein cereal. My expectations were high and this pumpkin spice cereal absolutely delivered. Between this and all the yogurts/cream cheeses I’m saving for an update to this piece, I could make a very pumpkin-ful balanced breakfast.

8/10 sporks

Cedar Farms Pumpkin Hommus

“Dessert hommus” isn’t a space I have much experience in, but Cedar Farms’ Pumpkin Hommus is like eating straight pumpkin pie filling. Ditch the pita chips; I’m going to eat this entire tub with graham crackers and die happy.

9/10 sporks

Bubbies Pumpkin Spice Mochi

This is one of the best mochi ice cream bites I’ve ever had; I need to get my hands on more Bubbies ASAP. The pumpkin spice ice cream is fantastic and the mochi coating was dead-on authentic to imported mochi I’ve had before. The only note I have (and it’s barely a complaint) is that the mochi dough coating of the ice cream wasn’t flavored. Even substituting the standard sweet rice flour with some sort of powdered cinnamon would have added to the concept.

9.5/10 sporks

Califia Farms Organic Pumpkin Spice Almond Creamer

It’s only fitting that the best pumpkin spice product I tried was a coffee creamer. This dairy-free almond creamer (added to Califia Farms’ cold brew, which they were also kind enough to send over) perfectly cut the bitterness of the dark espresso blend. This impressed ex-baristas and non-coffee-drinkers alike. This creamer kicks ass.

10/10 sporks